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in which I get to say ‘spelunking’ and ‘microbots’ and ‘Mars’

A Mars-orbiting satellite recently spotted seven dark spots near the planet’s equator that scientists think could be entrances to underground caves.

Cooler:

The researchers hope the discovery will lead to more focused spelunking on Mars.

A project here on Earth aims to refine the visual and infrared techniques THEMIS used to find the Martian caves and to also develop robots that can one day enter the caverns and explore them.

Awesome:

The researchers are also considering other robotic design possibilities, including the deployment of several miniature robots together into a cave.

“You could throw out an array of microbots in a birdshot approach over an area where you think there is a cave,” Wynne told SPACE.com . The microbots could then use sonar or some other method to confirm the presence of a cave and pinpoint its location.

Wow. I mean, caves on Mars, detected by microbots scanning for their heat signature. Just wow.